Hermosa Beach Day at the Beach Triathlon
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Hermosa Beach Day at the Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint
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Swim
Comments: Waves were 2-4, with sets of 6 footers, but they were also very powerful. During my "warmup" i ducked under one, and as I came up, got sucked back with it. We watched the prior waves, and hoped we'd time it well. "2 minutes to go" - well, it's flat right now, can't we go now?? Knowing that sets come in waves of three, more or less, I was counting the waves. We did get fairly lucky. At the gun, it was like everyone ran to the water, and then stopped, had to negotiate around them, dolphined a couple times, then started swimming, then saw a lifeguard standing in shin deep water. Damn, a sandbar..... Got up, dolphined a couple more, then started swimming, got under a couple big ones as tey were walling up, then it was off to the buoy. I was 2d or 3d at the buoy, and turned, but I just wasn't feeling this one. Not good, last race of the season, and didn't feel like I could reach down and grab it. There was a blue cap in front of me, not swimming that much faster, and I can usually catch those guys, I didn't this time. I was also nervous about the exit, and wanted to save some energy (and lungs, incase I got hammered again). At the second buoy turned right, facing into the sun so I was just following blue cap guy and trying to ignore all the black, yellow, orange etc. capped people. Caught a wave in which helped a bunch, dolphined some, then got up and started to "run" out of the water :) Blue cap guy said "good swim" 2-300 yards up the sand (UGH), cross the timing at and onto the strand for another 100 yards or so.... What would you do differently?: Tell my head to shut the F up Transition 1
Comments: Had a bit of a time getting the wetsuit off over the timing chip. Shoes went on fast and easy. First time with a tri top under my wetsuit, felt like I was missing something, but definietly made life easier. Looooong 200 yard run to T1 exit.... damn Thought this time was slow but was really 2d in my AG What would you do differently?: Put on helmet as I am taking wetsuit off. Bike
Comments: First 400 yards were uphill, as if my HR wasn't high enough already :^. Then mostly flat with a couple of short rises, a false flats, and a couple nice downhills. Bike felt pretty good, ave. is 17.75, which is my fastest. Passed a lot of people in earlier waves, got passed by a lot of faster riders as well. Tried to rememeber to drink enough. At one point, someone passed me and gave me the thumbs up. Was Rick , my swim coach, on his way to a 2d place OA finish. What would you do differently?: Ride lots more hills. Those little rises shouldn't slow me down that much HAMMER in the places I can hammer. I did get into the large front cog (name?) a couple of times, which was good, and spent most of the race in aero. Transition 2
Comments: T2 was at the bottom of the hill, then I had to run the 200 yards in my bike shoes to the rack. Had a heck of a time getting the bike shoes off... WTF is up with that? shoes went on super fast, but the yankz simply didn't tighten up enough, had to stop a couple times to tighten them, which slowed me down. Grabbed glasses, belt and hat, a quick drink and I was off........ one buckle of the belt came off so I had to carry the number the whole way. What would you do differently?: Learn how to take feet out of bike shoes so I can run barefeet and be done with it. Run
Comments: Started out feeling slow, calves were hinting at cramping... Saw Rick nearing the finish as I was heading out, called for him to kick ass. This was the first run that actually felt good. I got passed as usual, but not as often, and I even passed a few people of my own. Passed a guy at the turnaround, we talked a bit, he tried to stay with me, but fell off the back. Kinda wanted him around for motivation. I willed myself not to stop, and at mile 2 willed myself to go even faster. My mile three split was near 9:00 Saw lots of friends on the run course, yelling back and forth, thumbs up, made it a great leg of the race. Last 100 yards was in sand, which kinda sucked, but at the end everyone got a finisher's medal, my first one! :) What would you do differently?: Not sure if I left it all out there. Need to experiment with running the tank down more often. Although at 9:19 per mile, it's my fastest tri leg, and near my fastest 5k pace (9:13), so it's getting better. Post race
Warm down: Walked around, ate, drank, chatted, relived, etc...... What limited your ability to perform faster: not enough bike and run training. simple as that Event comments: Honestly, this was the most fun I have had at a race. And last year, they broke the categories down even further into weight AND age, I thought maybe, maybe, I could get on the podium. This year, they did away with the age divisions, it was all over and under 225 (me? over). My goal time was 1:20. I hit 1:13, I was secretly hoping it was good enough. Have to say, even though my run felt good and I beat my goal time to shreds, I was disappointed to see 6/22..... BUT I have plenty of room for improvement - get the bike mph up to 20+. Get runs down to 8:00 per. That is definietly doable over the off season, considering my first tri I was at 17 mph and 10:50 miles. Now I was at 17.75 and 9:19 miles. It's not about placing.... but it kinda is, isn't it? Especially for a big guy like me who NEVER dreamt of doing anything like this (well, I dreamt of it, just never thought I could) just a year and a half ago. Next year..... Last updated: 2005-06-28 12:00 AM
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2005-10-10 3:18 PM |
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2005-10-10 7:56 PM in reply to: #262891 |
2005-10-11 8:06 AM in reply to: #263062 |
2005-10-11 11:34 AM in reply to: #262891 |
2005-10-13 7:30 AM in reply to: #262891 |
General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
MESP
68F / 20C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 292/767
Age Group = Clyde +
Age Group Rank = 6/22
Got up at 5:45 for the 15 minute drive. power bar and water, gu 20 minutes before start
not a whole lot.... A little running on the beach, tried to get in the water, got HAMMERED by waves and was already going anaerobic, so decided to give that a miss. I need to work on warmups for next season